INPEX CORPORATION

Japan's designated flagship oil and gas producer, in which the state keeps a golden share, and whose earnings rest above all on a single Australian LNG project.

INPEX LNG storage tanks and terminal facilities

Business Description

INPEX explores for, develops and produces crude oil and natural gas in around 20 countries, and is designated by the Japanese government as the country's core exploration and production company — a status underwritten by a golden share that lets the state veto certain decisions, a change of control among them. Its mainstay is Ichthys LNG off Western Australia, whose gas travels some 890 km by pipeline to a liquefaction plant at Darwin; the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia's Masela Block is the next large development being prepared.

Crude oil accounts for roughly three-quarters of revenue and natural gas for most of the rest, with close to 70% of the business overseas. Because that output is sold in dollars, profit moves with three things at once: the price of crude, the LNG prices indexed to it, and the yen-dollar rate — a weak yen lifts reported earnings even when volumes are flat. The company in its present form dates from 2006, when INPEX Holdings combined with Teikoku Oil, though the predecessor businesses are far older; it closes its books in December, unusually for a Japanese large cap, and is investing in hydrogen, ammonia, carbon capture and storage and geothermal power as part of a net-zero plan.

Corporate Data

Ticker1605
ExchangeTokyo Stock Exchange
Size CategoryTOPIX Mid400
Market SegmentPrime Market
SectorMining
Head OfficeAkasaka Biz Tower, 5-3-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6332, Japan
FoundedApril 3, 2006
Fiscal Year EndDecember 31
WebsiteOfficial website

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